The Children That Made It Through The Night
by GoddessofRoyalty
Summary: He had managed to save both their lives. Now he needs to figure out what to do next to keep them alive all by himself.
**Summary: He had managed to save both their lives. Now he needs to figure out what to do next to keep them alive all by himself.
**

**Basic plot: some other people are responsible for the jedi school massacre and Ben + Rey are the only survivors.**

 **Once again random name generators save the day!**

 **Are they cousins? siblings? just close family friends? I don't know!**

 **Warnings: OC deaths, Good!Ben Solo AU (I'm actually not in denial I just love exploring various hypotheticals)**

They were the last two left.

Force.

They were the last two still alive.

Ben looked around at the dead bodies of his fellow padawans ( _former_ fellow padawans). The bodies of his friends. They had been alive and _laughing_ just hours ago. Now they were just corpses. Never to laugh again.

He had felt them all die. One by one. The Force mourning each and every one of them as the last of their life passed from their bodies.

The stench of blood and death weighed thickly on the air as Ben tried to think of a way to explain it to her. Tried to think of a way to explain the broken, bloodied bodies to her.

She was smart enough to know they weren't _sleeping_. Old enough to be able to discern between play and reality. She was still too young to really understand death though. Had never yet faced it. How was he supposed to explain it to her?

He wished his master was still here. Luke would know how to explain it to her in a way that would do the least damage, would cause the least grief. Instead his master had been captured. Had been lured away with promises that the children wouldn't be hurt if he went with the attackers. Evidently he had been lied too.

He wished his parents where there. Wished for his mother's soft arms and firm voice, telling him that everything will be okay. Wished for his dad's grin and his hand ruffling through his son's hair, telling him to just sit back and watch as they take care of it. He wished for his uncle Chewie. Nothing could hurt them if Chewie was around to protect them.

None of them were there and he had to take charge. He had to take charge because she is much too young to. Because she still needed others to take care of her.

He had to get them off the world before _they_ return. Had to get them far away.

His breath stopped as he heard ships approaching. He scrambled to hide behind some of the rubble as they land. His thin, lanky body hunched up so it wouldn't be seen. They might be Republic ships. Come to help because the news of what had happened had somehow reached them. His father didn't raise him to cling to small hopes. He will not risk his life (he will not risk her life) on a slim _maybe_.

He watched the two ships land in the distance. They certainly didn't look like any Republic ship he knew. And he knew most of them. When he was younger his parents and uncle used to point them out and explain them all during breaks of meetings. When he was older they made sure he knew how to fly most of them. He missed them and he knew them were not dead. They were still somewhere in the galaxy alive. He didn't want to think about what the families of the others would think when they found out the news.

He tried to keep his breathing steady as one of the men walked up towards where he was hiding. There was a blaster casually hanging from his hand, another on his hip. Ben didn't fear them. He knew his way around them well enough, another skill his father ensured he learned just in case the 'force ever failed him'. He used to draw a familiar comfort from them, comfort from knowing how they worked. In that moment he was disgusted. That is what killed all his friends. What would kill him if he gave it the chance.

The man lightly kicked Darin's body and Ben wanted to _kill him_. He had his lightsaber on him. He could. It would be easy with the man's back turned to him.

He knew it would only make things worse. If the others even heard the sound of something off they would come running. Ben was sure he could take down one of them. But 6? At once? He wasn't about to risk it.

He had to do _something_ though. He couldn't just let the man keep going or else he might find her. She had managed to be hidden so far, been a good girl and listened when he told her to stay quiet and not move but there was only so long she would be able to stay there before she couldn't help but leave the place he had put her. There was only so much one can expect from someone so young.

There was also the problem of needing a ship to get off the planet. They had taken all the ones that normally were on the planet in case they needed to evacuate or Luke decided to teach them how to fly (teach them while flying). Now there were only the two ships that the men have brought with them.

He had no other choice.

"You are going to go back to your ship," he said alerting the man to his presence. There was a blaster turned to him and he swallowed while trying to focus on the Force. "You are going to go back to your ship and tell the others that you found nobody alive up here."

"I am going to go back to my ship and tell the others that I found nobody alive up here."

Ben ran his tongue along his lip, mouth feeing suddenly dry and he tried to maintain his focus. He had to pick his words carefully or else the other men might figure out that there was still a Force user alive. "You are going to tell them to leave one of the ships because of mechanical failure. And then you are going to leave this planet and never return."

"I am going to tell them to leave one of the ships because of mechanical failure. And then I am going to leave this planet and never return."

"Good," Ben said and hid behind more rubble as he let the man's mind go. The man looked around and Ben honestly believed he had failed and would soon be shot (and she would be found and shot as well – or perhaps worst - not found and eventually starve to death). Eventually the man shrugged and started to walk back towards the ships.

Ben watched, his breath held, as the men talked before they all got into one ship and flew off. He watched it go. He half expected it to turn back and the men to return to kill him and find her.

Eventually it left his vision and he took a breath. It would be as good as he could get.

He looked around at the bodies of his friends and knew he had no better chance than now to get them both off the planet. Knew he had to move quick unless there was another group of men coming to strip the place of resources or perhaps triple check that everyone was dead (especially when they realised a ship had been left behind). He didn't have time to cremate them. Didn't have time to do anything but leave their bodies and hope someone friendly would eventually find them and give them the proper respects they deserved.

He ran to the room that had been his and Rassa's and Jair's. None of them had been particularly neat so there were clothes thrown everywhere. He remembered the way the three of them had grumbled whenever Luke told them to clean up the room. He remembered and knew that two of them would never be around to either clean up or make a mess of a room ever again.

He pushed the thought aside and tried to fight back his tears. It wouldn't be good for her to see him crying.

He made his way over to the deep chest that was supposed to hold his clothing. He had thrown it all out when he heard the chaos break out outside. When he had felt Elayna's life extinguished. He had thrown it out and hoped that the mess of the floor would hide it. Then he had put her in and told her to _stay quiet_. Told her it was a _very important_ thing that she did as she was told. Told her not to come out to anyone but him and then he left her to go try and save someone else. Anyone else. He failed that goal.

The Force told him she was still alive in there. He could feel the spark that was her glow strongly in the box. There was no risk of it being extinguished for now.

"Rey, it's me, you can come out now." The chest opened up and her face peered out. She had tears in her eyes but he knew she had not yet cried (knew she had not made a sound).

"Have the bad people gone away?"

"Yes Rey, they have gone away. Now come on we need to go." He helped her out of the box and then picked her up into his arms.

"I need you to shut your eyes for me until I say you can open them again," he said and she looked at him with suspicion.

"Why?"

"Because I told you too. Can you do that for me?" She nodded and screwed her eyes shut. He watched a tear that had gathered escape at that, watched as it slipped down here check.

"Don't open them until I tell you too. Okay?"

"Okay," she said and opened her eyes instantly.

"No Rey! Keep them closed until I tell you too. Okay?"

"Okay," she said again, more seriously and once again shut her eyes.

He carried her out of the building and through the field of bodies. The stench of death only seemed to have increased and he hoped she didn't notice it. Hoped she wouldn't ask what it was.

They reached the ship in only a few minutes time, although it felt like an eternity for him.

He placed Rey down on the co-pilots chair and then knelt so he could see her eye-to-eye.

"I need to go get some things. You stay here okay? Don't move and whatever you do don't leave the ship." If she left the ship she would see the bodies and he could not allow that. "Do you understand?"

"Yes," she said and the tears in her eyes had grown. He knew he was scaring her but he had no other choice. It was the only way he knew to make sure she listened.

He stood up and gave her a hug before he left the ship and returned to what was left of his home.

He got only what he believed to be necessary: clothes for him, clothes for her, credits, the stuffed wookie that had been a gift to her when she had been born. He gathered it all and shoved it into bags until he knew he would not be able to carry any more if they were forced to walk long distances. Then he started to make his way back to the ship, carefully stepping over the bodies of his friends as if they had just decided to take an inopportune nap and he didn't want to wake them.

He was almost at the ship when he stopped. He turned back around and looked at the bodies of his friends and knew he had to take one more thing. He dumped the bags on the ground and made his way over to Kira's body. "I'm sorry," he said as he gently moved her corpse to find the lightsaber that had been hers in life. He didn't know how long it would take for them to be able to safely get back in contact with his parents or uncle. It might take years and if it did it would only be fair for Rey to have a lightsaber to train with. Could be useful to not have to share one between the two of them.

He wished he could do more for his friends but knew every moment on the planet was a risk.

He shoved Kira's lightsaber into the pockets of his pants and returned to the bags before finishing his journey to the ship where he dumped them without ceremony and went to start to prepare it for takeoff. He may have never seen a ship like it before but its controls were similar enough to ones he did. He could fly it.

"Are we going somewhere?" Rey asked from the co-pilots seat, staring back at the bags he had brought.

"Yes."

"Where?"

"I don't know."

It was only once they cleared the atmosphere that he allowed the tears to flow freely from his eyes. Rey got up from her seat and came and cuddled against his chest.

In the middle of a universe that didn't care the two of them cried until there were no more tears left.


End file.
